This invention pertains to computer systems and other information handling systems and, more particularly, to a computer recovery apparatus and method, a recording medium on which a computer recovery program is recorded, and a delivery apparatus for delivering the recovery program that takes a measure against an operation for activating an operating system mistakenly performed in the process of recovering a preload image on a computer.
In a personal computer, a user can restore the hard disk to its original state on delivery. That is, in the event the operating system does not function because the hard disk is damaged or files have been erased, the user can restore the preload image on the hard disk by using a recovery CD-ROM packaged with the personal computer.
The preload image is recorded on the CD-ROM, typically in compressed form to reduce the total memory capacity of the CD-ROM needed to store the image. Various file compression formats are available. Well-known compression schemes include, for example, Drive Image (compression/decompression software name) compression format from Power Quest (a file compressed in this format is called a drive image) and PKZip (compression/decompression software name) compression format from PKWare (a file compressed in this format is called a Zip file). Typically, the whole or main part of an operating system (OS) in the preload image is recorded as a drive image, and other files are recorded as Zip files on the recovery CD-ROM. During the recovery of the preload image onto a hard disk, a xe2x80x9crecovery OSxe2x80x9d (for example, DOS) is activated instead of the xe2x80x9cnormal OSxe2x80x9d that is recorded on the hard disk and activated in normal times (for example, Windows or Linux). The recovery OS is a minimum collection of files required to perform functions required for the recovery task. The total file size of the recovery OS is far smaller than that of the normal OS. The recovery OS is recorded on a floppy disk created in advance by the user, or on the recovery CD-ROM itself. During the recovery process, part of the normal OS recorded on the recovery CD-ROM as a drive image is first recovered onto the hard disk, then the personal computer (PC) is rebooted by the recovery OS to cause the CPU of the PC to recognize predetermined hardware, and then the remaining files recorded in Zip format on the recovery CD-ROM are recovered onto the hard disk.
In a conventional PC, when a user is prompted to reactivate a recovery OS after the completion of the recovery onto the hard disk of the preload image portion in Drive Image format, or when the user is prompted to replace the current recovery CD-ROM because the preload image is recorded on more than one recovery CD-ROM, the user may often mistakenly assume that the recovery has been completed, remove the recovery CD-ROM from the CD-ROM driver, and perform an operation to activate the normal OS on the hard disk. In such a case, since all the recovery has not been completed, the user finds that desired programs have not been installed and may call a support center of the manufacturer of the PC. It may take considerable time for the support center personnel to understand the specific conditions described by the user, preventing it from quickly providing a proper response to the user.
In an apparatus described in Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 10-307725, when a user operates a predetermined key in activating an OS, the CPU of the PC assumes the operation to be an operation for reading the OS from a CD-ROM drive. When the CPU finds that the CD-ROM drive contains no activation CD-ROM, it opens the tray of the CD-ROM drive or displays a message notifying the user that no activation CD-ROM is contained in the drive. However, for the user to operate the predetermined key in activating the OS in this apparatus, the user should know the operation is for activating a recovery OS rather than a normal OS. If the user does not know that the recovery is uncompleted and mistakenly assumes it to be the activation of the normal OS, the apparatus cannot take a measure against the operation for activating the normal OS mistakenly attempted by the user.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a computer recovery apparatus and method, a recording medium on which a recovery program is recorded, and a delivery apparatus for delivering the recovery program that can prevent a user from inadvertently activating a normal OS during recovery.
According to a first computer recovery apparatus and method of the present invention, preload image data recorded on a recovery recording medium is read to recover the preload image onto an external storage device. In this computer recovery apparatus, the OS to be recovered onto the external storage device is defined as a xe2x80x9cnormal OSxe2x80x9d and the OS which is used for the recovery task is defined as a xe2x80x9crecovery OS.xe2x80x9d If a user mistakenly tries to activate the normal OS before the recovery process is complete, the normal OS will fail.
The computer may be, for example, a personal computer (PC). Typically, the external storage device is a hard disk, including a magnetic storage device and a nonvolatile memory unit. It is required that the external storage device have a storage capacity sufficient to store the normal OS. The file size of the recovery OS is far smaller than that of the normal OS; the recovery OS has a minimum file size required for accomplishing recovery. The recovery OS may be recorded on the recovery medium together with the preload image, or it may be recorded on a medium other than the recovery medium, such as a floppy disk. The term xe2x80x9cimagexe2x80x9d refers to a copy of certain portions of a storage device. A xe2x80x9cpreload imagexe2x80x9d contains at least the image of the entire normal OS, and typically contains given application software along with the normal OS.
For example, the user may mistakenly activate the normal OS during recovery in the following cases: (a) part of the preload image is compressed in Drive Image format, and the compressed image must be recovered into an external storage device and the recovered part must be first recognized by the OS before the recovery process can proceed to the next phase, therefore the user is prompted to reactivate a recovery OS, but the user misdeems that the recovery is completed, or (b) a plurality of recording media for recovery are provided because the amount of the preload image is large and, after the completion of the recovery from the current recovery medium, the user is prompted to replace the current recovery medium with the next recovery medium, but the user does not recognize it and misdeems that the recovery is completed.
Thus, if the user mistakenly activates the normal OS when the recovery process has not been completed, the normal OS will fail. Thus, the user is aware that there has been an error and to restart or complete the recovery operation.
According to a second computer recovery apparatus and method of the present invention, a file which is recorded on a predetermined location in the external storage device and to be read for activating a normal OS is defined as a presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file in the first computer recovery apparatus and method. This presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file is kept absent from the predetermined location until the completion of a recovery, the completion of the last reactivation of a recovery OS in a recovery task, or the completion of the last replacement of a recovery recording medium in the recovery task.
The presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file may be a file called the xe2x80x9csystem filexe2x80x9d, such as IO.SYS and COMMAND.COM if the normal OS is Windows 95 or 98, for example.
Once the recovery is completed, the entire preload image is present in the external storage device, therefore no trouble to the user can occur even if the normal OS is activated. The user can mistakenly perform an operation for activating the normal OS when he/she attempts to reactivate the recovery OS, or replace a recovery recording medium during a recovery task. Once the reactivation of the last recovery OS is completed or the last replacement of the recovery recording medium is completed during the recovery task, there is little possibility that the user will mistakenly perform an operation for activating the normal OS, therefore the presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file for activating the normal OS may be placed in a predetermined directory.
If the presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file does not exist, or if it does exist but in a location other than the predetermined location, the computer cannot read the normal OS and an attempt to activate the normal OS will fail.
According to a third computer recovery apparatus and method of the present invention, in the first computer recovery apparatus and method, a file recorded on a predetermined location in the external storage device and to be read for activating a normal OS is defined as a presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file and an activation-failure-causing presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file which has the same name as that of the presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file and does not activate the normal OS even if it is read is provided besides the regular presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file. This activation-failure-causing presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file is kept present in the predetermined location instead of the regular presence-requisite-for OS-activation file until the completion of a recovery, the completion of the last reactivation of the recovery OS in the recovery task, or the completion of the last replacement of the recovery recording medium in the recovery task.
If the user mistakenly performs an operation for activating the normal OS, the activation-failure-causing presence-requisite-for-OS-activation will be read by the computer. Because the file is the activation-failure-causing presence-requisite-for-OS-activation, the activation of the normal OS will fail.
According to a fourth computer recovery apparatus and method of the present invention, in the first computer recovery apparatus and method of the present invention, a file which is recorded on a predetermined location in the external storage device and to be read for activating a normal OS is defined as a presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file and a modified presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file modified from the regular presence-requisite-for-OS-activation so as to cause the activation of the normal OS to fail is provided besides the regular presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file. This modified presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file is kept present in the predetermined location instead of the regular presence-requisite-for OS-activation file until the completion of the recovery, the completion of the last reactivation of the recovery OS in the recovery task, or the completion of the last replacement of the recovery recording medium in the recovery task.
If the user mistakenly performs an operation for activating the normal OS, the modified presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file activation-failure-causing will be read by the computer. Because the modified presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file contains modified part (for example, a pause command) to cause the activation of the normal OS to fail, the activation of the normal OS will fail. Modifications of IO.SYS and COMMAND.COM in Windows 95 and 98 by a third party are prohibited. Therefore, only those files allowed to be modified by a third party can be the modified presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file.
According to a fifth computer recovery apparatus and method of the present invention, in the first computer recovery apparatus and method, a file which does not need to be read for the activation of a normal OS but is read and executed during the activation of the normal OS if the file exists in a predetermined location in the external storage device is defined as a read-at-OS-activation file and an activation-failure-causing read-at-OS-activation file which has the same name as that of the read-at-OS-activation file and does not activate the normal OS when it is read is provided besides the regular presence-requisite-for-OS-activation file. This activation-failure-causing read-at-OS-activation file is kept present in the predetermined location instead of the regular read-at-OS-activation file until the completion of the recovery, the completion of the last reactivation of the recovery OS in a recovery task, or the completion of the last replacement of the recovery recording medium in the recovery task. The read-at-OS-activation file may be, for example, AUTOEXEC.BAT if the normal OS is Windows 95 or 98.
If the user mistakenly performs an operation for activating the normal OS, the activation-failure-causing read-at-OS-activation file will be read by the computer. Because the read-at-OS-activation file is the activation-failure-causing file, the activation of the normal OS will fail.
According to a sixth computer recovery apparatus and method of the present invention, in the first computer recovery apparatus and method of the present invention, a file which does not need to be read for the activation of a normal OS but is read and executed during the activation of the normal OS if the file exists in a predetermined location in the external storage device is defined as a read-at-OS-activation file, and besides this regular read-at-OS-activation file, a modified read-at-OS-activation file which is modified so as to cause the activation of the normal OS to fail if read by the computer is provided. This modified read-at-OS-activation file is kept present in the predetermined location instead of the regular read-at-OS-activation file until the completion of the recovery, the completion of the last reactivation of the recovery OS in the recovery task, or the completion of the last replacement of the recovery recording medium in the recovery task.
If the user mistakenly performs an operation for activating the normal OS, the modified read-at-OS-activation file will be read by the computer. However, because the modified read-at-OS-activation file contains modified part (for example, a pause command) to cause the activation of the normal OS to fail, the activation of the normal OS will fail.
According to a seventh computer recovery apparatus and method of the present invention, in the first computer recovery apparatus and method of the present invention, a file which does not need to be read for the activation of a normal OS but is read and executed during the activation of the normal OS if the file exists in a predetermined location in the external storage device is defined as a read-at-OS-activation file, and an activation-failure-causing read-at-OS-activation file for causing the activation of the normal OS to fail when read by the computer is provided. This activation-failure-causing read-at-OS-activation file is kept present in the predetermined location until the completion of the recovery, the completion of the last reactivation of the recovery OS in a recovery task, or the completion of the last replacement of the recovery recording medium in the recovery task. After the completion of the recovery, the completion of the last reactivation of the recovery OS in the recovery task, or the completion of the last replacement of the recovery recording medium in the recovery task, all the read-at-OS-activation files, including the activation-failure-causing read-at-OS-activation file, are deleted from the predetermined location.
If the user mistakenly performs an operation for activating the normal OS, the activation-failure-causing read-at-OS-activation file will be read by the computer. This causes the activation of the normal OS to fail. Because the read-at-OS-activation files no longer exists once the recovery is completed, the last reactivation of a recovery OS in a recovery task is completed, or the last replacement of a recording medium for recovery in the recovery task is completed, the computer cannot read the activation-failure-causing read-at-OS-activation file during the activation of the normal OS and the normal OS is activated successfully.
According to an eighth computer recovery apparatus and method of the present invention, in any of the first to seventh computer recovery apparatuses and methods of the present invention, if a user mistakenly performs an operation for activating the normal OS before the completion of the recovery, the completion of the last reactivation of the recovery OS in the recovery task, or the completion of the last replacement of the recovery recording medium in the recovery task, the user is notified of the activation operation mistake. The user can know that he/she has mistakenly performed the operation for activating the normal OS by this notification.
According to a ninth computer recovery apparatus and method of the present invention, in the eighth computer recovery apparatus and method of the present invention, the notification of the operation for activating the normal OS mistakenly performed by the user is provided by displaying text on a display or generating a sound for notifying the user of the mis-activation-operation, or ejecting a tray containing the recovery recording medium.
According to a tenth computer recovery apparatus and method of the present invention, in any of the first to ninth computer recovery apparatuses and methods of the present invention, if the user mistakenly performs an operation for activating the normal OS before the completion of the recovery, the completion of the last reactivation of the recovery OS in the recovery task, or the completion of the last replacement of the recovery recording medium in the recovery task, an error code corresponding to the mis-activation-operation is provided to the user.
The user can report the error code to a support center and the support center personnel can quickly identify the cause of the error and advice the user of an appropriate remedial action.
A recording medium and delivery apparatus of the present invention is arranged to record and deliver a recovery program describing the steps performed by the first to tenth computer recovery methods described above.